I have bought these in 2000. The sound is very reminescent of you get when setting a V-like eq (scooped mids) on your favorite sound system. The highs are very present, so is the bass. The high are present and detailed, which I like, while the bass is really boomy and somwhat undamped (i.e. resonant).

Where are the mids ? I'd like to find out! If someone could tighten the bass a bit, increase the mids (mostly low mids) by 10dB and leave the highs the way they are, these canalphones would be quite good for the money. I believe Sony did something close to that with the EX-81, but I haven't tried them yet.

For the record, I think the E888 sound a lot flatter and much more easy on the ears.